What are you reading in June?

In our monthly book club, we discuss whatever we happen to be reading and ask everyone in the comments to do the same.

The Cabinet by Un-su Kim

Un-su Kim intertwines fantasy, science fiction, history, and memoir in the (purely fictional) The Cabinet. From the get go, the author spins a witty, marvelous tale about a prisoner saved by his own imprisonment when a volcano erupts outside of his small town. Each chapter offers a slice of life of the many mystical people who find their stories held within Cabinet 13. Un-su’s storytelling is evocative, warm, and downright humorous. I’m a sucker for episodic tales with characters who have one small thread between them, and The Cabinet checks all the boxes. [Gabrielle Sanchez]

Collective Rage: A Play In Five Betties by Jen Silverman

In Jen Silverman’s laugh-out-loud funny Collective Rage: A Play In Five Betties, five women—all named Betty—must navigate their similarities and differences to claim space in a male-dominated world. It’s basically The Vagina Monologues, if The Vagina Monologues was less ’90s and had a hot butch lesbian fixing up trucks and a “straight” girl obsessed with her pussy. (Wait … does it have those?)

This exceptionally breezy read—you’ll finish it in a matter of hours—can be quietly frustrating in its quirky character name(s). Readers may occasionally struggle to keep track of which Betty is doing what and why. When the final act gives everyone additional roles to take on in a meta play-within-a-play, things get even more complicated. It’s a dizzying effect that would be more of a problem if Silverman’s campy storytelling style didn’t let you float on the quiet absurdity of her chosen structure. Wanting to relate to each of the queer people individually but needing to keep up with the story, you’re forced to be not too precious with Collective Rage self-indulgent—instead using its knowing perspective as encouragement to look closer between the lines or, if seeing Silverman’s work performed on stage, deeper into the actors’ interpretations. [Alison Foreman]

Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise And Fall Of SST Records by Jim Ruland

As a young punk, pulling the SST Superstore catalog from a CD copy of Damaged, an entire history of American punk unfolds before you. A seemingly impossible collection of the most influential and best D.I.Y. bands the U.S. ever had to offer, from Black Flag and Minutemen to Soundgarden and Sonic Youth, SST records seemingly built the American independent music scene from scratch.

To that end, Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall Of SST Records is something of a miracle. Documenting the history of American indie music’s most iconic and mystifying record label, author Jim Ruland unpacks the entire SST Superstore catalog and then some. Ruland leaves no stone unturned and no sound unchecked, speaking to the bands, the artists, tour bookers, fans, and managers who were there in the Church packing records, sleeping on floors, and beating major labels at their own game. It’s a fascinating, entertaining, and revealing look at how the best label in the world went from releasing the seminal works of the ’80s to label founder Greg Ginn’s vanity projects like Mojack and Jambang. Corporate Rock Sucks is a must-read for anyone who stared at that catalog wondering how one label put out so many great bands and how it suddenly didn’t. [Matt Schimkowitz]

From Bad To Cursed by Lana Harper

The rom-com genre could always use some more witches, and luckily Lana Harper is here to provide with her Thistle Grove series. In this followup to sapphic love story Payback’s A Witch, the town’s magical community is being terrorized by dark, forbidden curses from an unknown assailant. When her family falls under suspicion, Isidora Avramov is forced to team up with her longtime nemesis, Rowan Thorn, to investigate. And these two aren’t just opposites in personality–their magical affinities for death and life magic are fundamentally opposed. Come for the hot enemies-to-lovers vibe, stay for the thoughtful world building that makes the modern magical world of Thistle Grove come alive. Bonus: beneath the romance is a story about living up to (and stepping out of) family expectations and the unquestioning loyalty between sisters. [Mary Kate Carr]

You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Every page of You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty feels like summer, and not just because of the Brooklyn rooftop parties and tropical island getaway. Feyi’s years of grief and PTSD were akin to a dark winter and a fragile spring, and now she’s blooming into something altogether new. Emezi’s vibrant prose shows what arduous, tender work it is to reclaim oneself and one’s body. It can be sexy, too–particularly set against a forbidden love triangle on a vacation in paradise. (One of) Feyi’s love interest(s), Alim, is a unique romantic hero that stands out in the genre’s crowded field. But Feyi’s relationship with her best friend Joy is a particular highlight; their dialogue is so refreshingly real, it feels like something you could overhear on a sweaty summer subway ride. Feyi’s story is about choosing to live, a journey that is joyful, painful, and romantic all at once. [Mary Kate Carr]